Thanks, super thanks to FTC peeps for turning me onto Raku. The place is awesome!! Went there for lunch. For a while, we were the only patrons in the place. We sat at the bar. At first, everyone seemed so polite and distant, but we ended chatting and having a good with the waitress and the chefs behind the grill. We drank sake by the glass - they have a nice selection.
Interior
We ordered the tofu because it said it had chile. My husband is no fan of tofu, mostly because of his experience with the grocery store stuff. This was phenomenal! Addictive!! As each dish arrives, they instruct you how to eat it. They told us to mix this all about.
Unmixed
Mixed
This next dish was cool and refreshing! Poached Egg with Sea Urchin and Salmon Roe.
This was the only dissappointing dish - the yellowtail was overcooked and dry. My husband ate it, because he’s okay with dry fish.
Lovely pig ears that they told us to drizzle chile sake over. I have to try that at home once my chiles start producing.
Melt in your mouth eggplant - they removed the skin and just left creamy interior.
The tendon was much fattier than expected, but very good. My husband enjoyed it, and he never eats tendon with me. The chef explained that one of the tendons came from a Kobe cow, making it even richer.
Pork cheek was good and I might have liked it better if my husband had not polished most of it off, leaving me with just one bite.
The foie gras was dreamy!
But the best part? The pig intestine! They cook the heck out of it, leaving just a little offal character, but it was incredibly tender with enough offal flavor to make me happy. My camera animated it and it looks like breathing offal!
Afterwards, the waitress, who I bonded with over our love of horse tartare, sent us to Alfreds for coffee, a 5 minute walk away. Had some Stumptown on nitro there.
Definitely going back to Raku!